Cold Front Brings Some Light Rain

A few light showers pattered into the Southland on Monday, but they were about all the rain that Southern California got from a cold front that moved across the northern and central parts of the state.

The front did dump snow in the Sierra Nevada, signaling an early winter there.

Orange County commuters saw just enough rain to keep windshield wipers going and pavement slick during the evening rush hour. By late afternoon, only traces of moisture had been recorded in El Toro and San Juan Capistrano.

The National Weather Service said occasional light rain during the evening would give way to partly cloudy skies today with highs in the middle 60s to low 70s. A warming trend was seen for Wednesday with mostly clear skies.

Monday’s high in Orange County was 71 degrees in Santa Ana, after an overnight low of 58 in San Juan Capistrano.

To the north, the storm system dropped about two-thirds of an inch of rain in parts of the San Joaquin Valley.

The first major storm of the season--which normally is expected sometime in November--drenched the San Francisco Bay Area before swinging inland to drop heavy snow in the Tahoe Basin and prompt warnings to travelers there. The warnings were canceled, however, as the storm moved eastward out of the state.

Caltrans closed several state highways leading into the central and southern Sierra Nevada. The closed highways were California 4 at Ebbetts Pass, California 89 at Monitor Pass, California 108 at Sonora Pass and California 120 at Tioga Pass.